Matatu

A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi

Nonfiction, History, Africa, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology
Cover of the book Matatu by Kenda Mutongi, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kenda Mutongi ISBN: 9780226471426
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: June 26, 2017
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Kenda Mutongi
ISBN: 9780226471426
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: June 26, 2017
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

Drive the streets of Nairobi, and you are sure to see many matatus—colorful minibuses that transport huge numbers of people around the city. Once ramshackle affairs held together with duct tape and wire, matatus today are name-brand vehicles maxed out with aftermarket detailing. They can be stately black or extravagantly colored, sporting names, slogans, or entire tableaus, with airbrushed portraits of everyone from Kanye West to Barack Obama. In this richly interdisciplinary book, Kenda Mutongi explores the history of the matatu from the 1960s to the present.
           
As Mutongi shows, matatus offer a window onto the socioeconomic and political conditions of late-twentieth-century Africa. In their diversity of idiosyncratic designs, they reflect multiple and divergent aspects of Kenyan life—including, for example, rapid urbanization, organized crime, entrepreneurship, social insecurity, the transition to democracy, and popular culture—at once embodying Kenya’s staggering social problems as well as the bright promises of its future. Offering a shining model of interdisciplinary analysis, Mutongi mixes historical, ethnographic, literary, linguistic, and economic approaches to tell the story of the matatu and explore the entrepreneurial aesthetics of the postcolonial world.
 

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Drive the streets of Nairobi, and you are sure to see many matatus—colorful minibuses that transport huge numbers of people around the city. Once ramshackle affairs held together with duct tape and wire, matatus today are name-brand vehicles maxed out with aftermarket detailing. They can be stately black or extravagantly colored, sporting names, slogans, or entire tableaus, with airbrushed portraits of everyone from Kanye West to Barack Obama. In this richly interdisciplinary book, Kenda Mutongi explores the history of the matatu from the 1960s to the present.
           
As Mutongi shows, matatus offer a window onto the socioeconomic and political conditions of late-twentieth-century Africa. In their diversity of idiosyncratic designs, they reflect multiple and divergent aspects of Kenyan life—including, for example, rapid urbanization, organized crime, entrepreneurship, social insecurity, the transition to democracy, and popular culture—at once embodying Kenya’s staggering social problems as well as the bright promises of its future. Offering a shining model of interdisciplinary analysis, Mutongi mixes historical, ethnographic, literary, linguistic, and economic approaches to tell the story of the matatu and explore the entrepreneurial aesthetics of the postcolonial world.
 

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book Never a City So Real by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book Face Value by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book Why Washington Won't Work by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book Running Science by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book Was Hitler a Darwinian? by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book The Bittersweet Science by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book The Scientific Journal by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book High-Skilled Migration to the United States and Its Economic Consequences by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book Thinking in Jazz by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book A Student's Guide to Law School by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book Crime and Justice, Volume 46 by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book Androids in the Enlightenment by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book Birth of Hegemony by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book Failing Law Schools by Kenda Mutongi
Cover of the book Pictures from an Institution by Kenda Mutongi
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy